Reply
Wed 4 Jun, 2003 05:58 am
Quote:washingtonpost.com
AOL Subscriber Defections Continue, Top 1 Million
By David A. Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 4, 2003; Page E01
America Online has lost more than 1 million dial-up customers since the dramatic decline in its subscriber base began late last year, sources familiar with the figures said yesterday.
The Dulles-based firm is rapidly losing customers to NetZero and other lower-priced bare-bones Internet services, as well as to higher-priced high-speed cable and telephone providers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A10134-2003Jun3?language=printer
At one time, AOL had a huge, loyal following, especially amongst novice computer users. Do you think that there are any reasons, besides price and the greater availability of broadband, that has caused subscribers to leave AOL in droves? After all, services like NetZero have been around for a number of years. Why the defections now?
Do you have or have you ever had AOL dialup? If you left, why? If you stay with the service, why?
I used AOL my first month online. I felt they wanted to control me instead of letting me go about my business. I always got page unavailable when trying to get to some place such as Yahoo. Sure, price is important to me, but survice is the bottom line. I now use a local server.
Edgar has hit the nail on the head--AOL is about control from the top, like Microsoft. Unlike Microsoft, there are many other options available. I have Road Runner at home, but we still use AOL at work (hey, blame the boss). AOL has a poor quality of service, they're always trying to sell you stuff--their in-house telemarketers call you at home in the evening. They only left me alone when, months after i closed my account, i threated to call PUCO is they didn't stop calling me (Public Utilities Commissio of Ohio).
They suck . . . good riddance . . .
There has been, in the last 5 years or so, a tremendous proliferation of computer users. I never wanted AOL. I had heard about the control that it puts on its members. A number of my newbie friends loved AOL, because it was "easy". So those people were giving up control for user friendliness, and ease of use.
Is is possible that over the last few years, this huge group of people have become more sophisticated computer users, and are no longer interested in "Internet Lite", as I have heard AOL called?
Tough lock AOL. I used 'em on one of their freetrials and found they were a real pain just trying to connect. I think their phone numbers were a work of fiction.
Before you start reading this post, let me try to sell you something.
As soon as I get the e-mail accounts done so the kids have their own (and can't read mine) aol goes.
You sure you don't want to buy something?
It's all about content, and aol's content is pretty low on the signal to noise ratio.
But before you finish reading this post, let me try to sell you something.